The interior climate conditions of kindergartens and schools are crucial to health and learning capability. Photo: Jens Sørå

A healthy interior climate in homes, schools and workplaces is a prerequisite for health, enjoyment and high productivity. Poor quality interior climate conditions are estimated to cost Norwegian society between NOK 8 and 12 billion annually. Added to this is lost income resulting from reduced productivity. The interior climate conditions of kindergartens and schools are crucial to health and learning capability.
In a modern commercial office building, technical installations account for about 50% of the costs, of which ventilation represents a major component. Buildings account for half of Norway's energy consumption. It is therefore important to develop reliable and economically reasonable concepts which contribute to reducing running costs and investment, while at the same time providing adequate interior climate quality.

 
The interior climate of a room is made up of the chemical content of the air, its temperature and humidity, draughts, light, sound, and physical surroundings. Our collaboration with other divisions within SINTEF and NTNU means that we cover the entire field.

Our principal technical fields of expertise:

Our technical specialisation is linked to air flow engineering as applied in buildings and various types of installations. This is applied to the the development of concepts for:

• Room ventilation and the removal of air contamination 
• Air supply and treatment
• Industrial ventilation

Our work within this field is based on our intimate knowledge of the users' need for a healthy interior climate / working environment, and of the negative climate-related factors to which buildings and installations are exposed. Our tools include theoretical concepts, simulations and experimental techniques.

Current activities:

• Full-scale testing of interior climate-related engineering concepts.
• Assessment and simulation of air flow in ventilated rooms.
• Factors which influence the microorganism and chemical substance content of air.
• Development and testing of components.
• Another field is sanitation which addresses hygiene in buildings. This includes tap water, drainage and cleaning practices.